Ghosts Of The Past
by SabreFang
Summary: DISCONTINUED A young mutant is haunted by his past, can he find peace, and maybe love with the X-Men? AU Rated M for language.


**Disclaimer: I do not own the X-Men or anything affiliated with Marvel.**

**Prologue**

_I'm running down an alley, I can see my younger sister Hannah running in front of me. I hear footsteps running behind us, we reach a dead end and the footsteps stop as I turn around. I see a hooded figure holding a gun and I seem to fall through the ground and float in darkness. I can see only the sky through a small hole above me, I hear a gunshot, Hannah screams and footsteps run fading away. Then I float back above ground, I look around in a panic and see Hannah's lifeless body slumped on the ground, a bullet wound in her head. I fall again this time not stopping, not floating. I keep falling and the hole revealing the sky gets smaller and smaller until I can't see it any more, I hear Hannah laughing and then..._

I woke up in a cold sweat, I have been having that nightmare a lot recently, I brushed my long dark hair out of my face and checked my watch, midnight time to move on.

There was a time when I didn't have to wait until nightfall to move around, back when I was just Jack Ryder your average guy from Brooklyn. I guess my life changed the day after my sixteenth birthday, the day I discovered my abilities and the day my sister died.

**Two Years Ago In Brooklyn**

I was sitting in a booth with my parents and my sister at my uncle Lou's Italian restaurant, Dad had rounded up the entire family to celebrate my sixteenth birthday, or as uncle Lou called it, my first day the path to becoming a man. I got a lot of presents and some cash from my relatives, but the gift I loved most was the old watch with the worn leather strap my dad gave me. He told me it had been in our family for generations, going right back to my great, great grandpa Frankie Ryder, a famous watchmaker. Then uncle Lou brought out this great big cake with a picture of my face on it and the words "Happy Birthday Jackie" written in icing. All in all it was a pretty good day, uncle Lou even slipped me a small glass of wine when my parents weren't looking.

The next day I went to school and told all my friends about the amazing birthday I had, I must have shown my watch to everyone I knew. After school I picked up Hannah and we started walking home, with her skipping ahead. We were about halfway there when a person wearing a black hoodie with the hood hiding their face came up to me.

"Nice watch, but it'd look better on me hand it over" he demanded, I could tell they were male from the voice.

"No way" I replied, "It's a family heirloom."

"I don't think you understand" he said with a dark chuckle, as he pulled a gun from his pocket. "Hand it over or I'll blow your fuckin' head off." I noticed that Hannah had started skipping back towards me.

"Hannah run away quick" I shouted causing the mugger to turn his head towards Hannah. Noticing the gun she quickly turned round and started running, while the mugger was distracted I took the opportunity to knee him in the groin, causing him to double over as I ran after Hannah. She turned down an alley and I ran after her only to find a dead end. I heard the mugger come up behind us and I turned to face him.

"You should have just gave me the watch you dumb piece of shit" he shouted as he aimed the gun at my chest and pulled the trigger. Suddenly I felt my body fall through the ground and as I heard the gunshot, followed by Hannah screaming and footsteps running away, I knew exactly what had happened. A few seconds later I was back above ground and panicking, I looked around for Hannah and my heart sank when I saw her tiny lifeless body slumped in a pool of her own blood. "Hannah" I called, " Hannah...Hannah wake up...please wake up" I held her close and wept for hours.

Eventually a passer by saw me and called the police, my parents told me there was nothing I could have done but I knew they were lying, it should have been my that died that day.

After the funeral I left town and I've been wandering from place to place ever since.

**Present Day**

"_Oh well no point thinking about the past, time to move on" _I thought as I put on the long black leather trench coat, which I had been using as a blanket. I slung my rucksack over my shoulder and walked out of the draughty abandoned warehouse I was sleeping in, and into the cold night air.

**A/N: Well this is my first fanfic so please review and let me know what you thought, don't be afraid to be honest after all I can't improve if I don't know what's wrong.**

**TheRetroGamer signing off.**


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